Bound in deep red pigskin and dark green cloth, front board stamped with the Mark of the Beast in gold,
Aleister Crowley signature beneath, gold titles and ‘666’ to spine

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The secret of occult magic (or ‘Magick’ as the English occultist Aleister Crowley defined it) is focused in its entirety on the study, magnification, gathering and direction of life-force within the body and mind of the practitioner. This life-force manifests within the human being in the form of sexual energy or prana, a psycho-physical energy which has supernatural potential.

In his early life, and in his magical career within the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, Aleister Crowley sensed and recognised the need of this life-affirming force as the substrate of any achievement of the will whatsoever. As a mountaineer, master of chess, student of meditation and master of Magick, Crowley worked tirelessly upon himself, to find and gather all exisiting sources of information regarding the focusing of the will and spent decades finely tuning his practise of powering this will with an unstoppable force. His writings are the most detailed and technically perfect source of information on the use of sexual magick in the world.

Aleister Crowley in Arab dress

After his student period within the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, Aleister Crowley travelled to India and China seeking knowledge of the fundamental secret of magick in schools of Yoga and oriental alchemy. In 1910 he joined and soon became head of the secret occult school known as OTO or Ordo Templi Orientis. At the time this was a German based esoteric order with an initiatory system like Freemasonry but with strong Knights Templar connections. The Orders name means literally ‘Order of the Eastern Templars’ and their secret rituals and degree instructions purported to deliver the sexual secret of magick.

Crowley, as advanced in practical occultism as he was in theoretical scholarship, soon took over the Order and re-structured the system based upon his own unique and far-ranging insights upon sexual magick. The resulting blend was a powerful fusion of ritual occultism, techniques of mental control, Indian, Chinese and other oriental techniques for harnessing the life-force.

Many of these ideas appeared in a simple form in the theorems and ritual instructions of ‘Magick in Theory & Pratice’ (Paris 1929) by Aleister Crowley, finding their summit in the ‘Liber Samekh’ or Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel contained within the pages of ‘Magick in Theory & Practice’ 1929, a detailed instructional document for one of Crowleys advanced pupils (Frank Bennett) where Crowley makes explicit the relationship between the sexual force of the unconscious and the Higher Self.

Aleister Crowleys ‘Magick in Theory & Practice’ is still today one of the most advanced and complete presentations of practical occultism, but the detailed instructions required to make the system work in a precise and perfect manner have never been entirely revealed.

For nearly fourty years after journeying to the East, Crowley continued to study and experiment with the secret of the life-force and imbued his Tarot designs (‘The Book of Thoth’ published in 1944) with these ideas, many images in the deck of cards relate to passages in his ‘Book of the Law’ and other magickal writings, but some speak directly as to the inner alchemy of self-change or ‘Magick’, and point to the sexual origins of this driving force.

Sexual alchemy in Crowleys ‘Thoth’ tarot

Perhaps the most striking influence of Crowleys teaching and ideas in relation to the use of this sexual energy in occultism is that which he had upon the witchcraft author Gerald Gardner.

Gerald Brosseau Gardner

Crowley issued a charter to operate degrees of OTO to Gerald Gardner and would have issued him with the relevant instructions and papers to practise the secrets of sexual magick.

Gardners OTO Charter with Crowleys signature

Aleister Crowley toward the end of his life

After Gerald Gardner we see the ‘King of the Witches’ Alex Sanders writing in his personal notebook (‘The Alex Sanders Notebook’ published also by Hell Fire Club Books) lists of deities, demons and powers all drawn from the tables in Crowleys ‘Magick in Theory & Practise’. Sanders own alterations to this material make it abundantly clear that he had himself worked upon the secret energies of magic from the beginning, his later career saw him experiment broadly with this energy.

The influence that these ideas have had upon the esoteric sciences in the West, upon the history and literature of magick, upon art, pop culture and the development of new and diverse social and religious movements around the world has been immense.

Students of occultism, mind control, tantric yoga, practical occult magick, witchcraft and Thelema today all require a clear and detailed guide to the practical application of this power, so we here present for the first time a full collection being 271 printed pages covering:

Contents

Introduction

Hymn to Pan with performance notes by A. Crowley

The Gnostic Neo-Christians by T. Reuss

Sex, 666, & the O.T.O. by G.J. Yorke

General Documents on the Sexual Secret of Magick

A.M.R.I.T.A.

The Elixir of Life

The Elixir of Life from the diary of A. Crowley, June 7, 1919

The Elixir of Life: Our Magical Medicine

Remarkable Experiment with the Elixir of Life

Amrita (1933)

Additional Cases

On Liber XV: Ecclesiæ Gnosticæ Catholicæ Canon Missæ

Liber Artemis Iota

Secret Papers of the OTO

A Private Letter of Parzival X° (V°) by C.S. Jones

De Natura Deorum (VII°)

Letter from Crowley to Jones re VII°

De Nuptiis Deorum cum Hominibus (VIII°)

Liber C vel AGAPE (IX°)

De Arte Magica

IX° Emblems & Their Mode of Use

Liber Qoph: Gnosticorum Missa Minor

Adorations for IX° Working

De Homunculo Epistola (X°)

The Holy Hymns to the Great Gods of Heaven

Crowley to G.L. McMurtry re IX°

XI Degree OTO

C.S. Jones to G.J. Yorke re XI°

Appendices

O.T.O. Degrees & How They Relate to Freemasonry

Marcelo Motta‘s Revision of Liber C

VIII° & IX° ―Secrets

Two Essays by G.J. Yorke: Tantric Hedonism & Tantric Theory

G.M. Cowie Address to London O.T.O. (1916)

Epistle from Frater Achad to Sister Katherine Talbot (1918)

An O.T.O. Interpretation of the Trigrams of the I Ching by W.T. Smith

Liber Stellæ Rubeæ

Bibliography and Notes

The edition is privately printed and has been bound at the Hell Fire Club.